THIEF TRIES TO STEAL MY CAMERA
By Bob Van Leer

  (DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA, Nov. 8, 1993) - Tourism has the biggest potential for Tanzania according to Fulgence M. Kazaura, permanent secretary and secretary of the Planning Commission in the President's office. We met with Kazaura after a return trip from Zanzibar on the "fast boat". Our stay on Zanzibar was just overnight. I had my first experience with crime in Tanzania. We had been warned about "snatch and run" bandits but it is different when it actually happens to you. I had a camera in one pocket and moved it to another pocket to get out something. In the process, the camera strap was left hanging out of my pocket. I felt a tug and grabbed the camera in the pocket and at about the same time felt a snap as the strap gave way. I turned to see a man dashing between two sidewalk stalls with the strap in his hand. The camera suffered slight damage but still works. For all his efforts, the thief wound up with a broken strap. Unsettling, but on the other hand, I was whacked on the back of the head from behind in Portland just about a month ago.

  The Planning Commission here is more than local land use. It is planning for the whole country. Kazaura said its purpose is to develop macro economic policies for sustainable development and oversee the implementation of these policies. In 1986 the socialist policies with which the new nation was established foundered. Kazaura said the government was reformed and is no longer the provider. The "Arusha Declaration" in 1986 committed the government to control the major means of production in agriculture and government through government-owned public enterprises. He said economic growth since then has gone from 3% per years to 4 - 5% per year now and should got to 6% in the next 3 years and to 7 - 8% after that. At that point Tanzania can get away from being dependent on foreign help.

  He said the coup in Burundi and the associated refugee problem hurts Tanzania in several ways. Resources have to be directed to help refugees and political instability in a neighbor country hurts foreign investment. Russia had very little direct investment in Tanzania but as long as there were two camps, one could be played against the other. With the end of the Cold War Tanzania no longer has that option. Answering a question about taxes he said, "Madam, we pay so much we can't afford a pair of shoes". Kazaura repeated again a complaint we have heard about Kenya, which is more developed for tourists. Tourists are brought in to Kenya, taken on a trip to the Serengeti and Mt. Kilimanjaro and back to Kenya. The attractions are in Tanzania but the money all stays in Kenya.

  Our last stop of the day was at the Dar es Salaam Chamber of Commerce. It is not a strong organization but has been in existence since 1919 when the British took over after the defeat of Germany in World War I. E. C. Mzena, chairman of the chamber, said everything was nationalized in February, 1967, and the organization was doing nothing until the end of 1985 when there was a change of government leadership and business was revived. In this city of a million and a half people, the chamber has 370 members. Dues are not exorbitant, about $24.00 per year. On the other hand, much of the business here is done in sidewalk stalls. Kazaura allowed at this time the chamber is not very dynamic.

  All of these meetings are conducted in oppressive heat. The temperature is in the 90s, the humidity is 100% and there is virtually no air conditioning. Tanzania claims a very high literacy rate, 85%, but it is in Swahili. Adoption of Swahili as a national language and using it as the teaching language is crippling this country. English is used in the higher grades but the country would have been way ahead to use English as its language, as has Uganda. Swahili is simply a dead end. We were told Kenya is the only other state using it. There is no body of literature written in Swahili. To continue studies, children have to learn English. We met a Japanese student who came to Tanzania to study Swahili. He now says bitterly, he is studying a dead language in a dead country. A new Sheraton Hotel is just under construction and scheduled for opening in 1995. The city could use a first-class hotel. The Kilimanjaro, where we are staying, is supposed to be the finest in town. But most of the motels in Gold Beach are better. Power goes off periodically and there is no backup. The air conditioning doesn't work. Service here, and elsewhere in Tanzania, is uneven. Some of the service people are good enough to be employed anywhere. But others don't know where to start. Tomorrow we are to meet with the Ministry of Health, Minister for Communications and Transport and conclude the day and working part of the tour with a meeting with the Tanzania Journalists' Association.